


Surprise

by Severina



Category: True Blood
Genre: Community: prompt_in_a_box, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-29 20:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7698874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Aaah, you found the hot tub."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Post the return of Eric's memories, Sookie chose to stay with him. Written for LJ's prompt_in_a_box community for the 'members choice' prompt.
> 
> * * *

He can feel her anger rolling along the blacktop, shimmering closer as her decrepit little car eats up the miles to Shreveport. It makes the hair at the nape of his neck stand on end in a way that is… not unpleasant, and makes it entirely impossible to focus on either the paperwork at hand or his midnight snack. Eric regretfully retracts his fangs, leans back and licks any errant blood from his lips. "You may go," he says.

The girl's eyes flick from his lips to his groin before dropping to the floor. A simple mistake, but a costly one. 

"Now," he says.

He doesn't watch her leave, concentrates instead on the roil of emotions getting ever nearer. Anger, yes, and consternation, and also a strange mix of frustrated affection. His blood along their bond tingles with it. He closes his eyes and bathes in it when he should be studying expansion plans, and only opens them when he senses her within the building. 

He looks up when the door opens, bringing with it the clamor of rock and roll guitar that perfectly matches the storm of emotions brewing on his doorstep.

"I told her you were busy, but Sookie says she simply has to see you," Pam drawls. "She seems to think it's important."

The final word has barely left her lips before Sookie is pushing past her. The contrast between them is ever startling, these two women he loves in such different ways – Pam swathed neck to ankles in skin-tight red leather, Sookie in the tiny black shorts that show off her shapely calves, the rounded curves of her breasts covered by a simple white T. She smells of cooking grease and dead meat, his Sookie, but beneath that is the scent of _her_ : sunlight and new grass and honey.

"You don't have to announce me like I'm some kind of guest," she says scathingly over her shoulder before rounding on him, slapping her palms onto the desk. "I got a bone to pick with you."

He senses Pam bristle in the doorway – only Sookie Stackhouse would brush past a century old vampire without a thought to her own safety – and lifts a hand. "Inform Anastasia that she'll be transferring to Area 2," he says, "and contact the Sheriff there so that he knows to expect her. I want her gone by dawn."

"Anastasia? But—"

"That's all, Pam. Leave us."

With Pam's annoyance directed toward him – Anastasia is a favourite of hers, after all – he waits for the door to close and then turns to the woman. "Sookie," he says. "We weren't supposed to see each other tonight, were we?"

"Don't 'Sookie' me, Eric Northman!" she says. "You know _exactly_ why I'm here!"

Eric leans back in his chair, folds his hands at his stomach. There are at least half a dozen things he's done lately that could easily raise Sookie's ire, but it would take a better vampire than him to admit such a thing to her face. Instead he simply inclines his head. "Perhaps you'd better enlighten me, regardless."

"I don't wanna play games, Eric! I had a long night at work because Mikey's teething so Arlene was off _again_ and I'm tired and my back's sore and I just wanted to get a good night's sleep!" she rails. "I came in around the back way 'cause I still had groceries in the trunk, and—"

"Aaah, you found the hot tub."

"Yes, _I found the hot tub_ ," Sookie grits out. 

"How does it look? I signed off on the plans but didn't have time to fly out tonight to see the finished product."

Sookie throws up her hands. "You have no right to just waltz into my house—"

"Technically, it's still my hou—"

"—and knock down a fence and build a deck and install lighting and put a damn hot tub in my backyard!"

He actually has every right – it's his house, she's his woman, they share a blood bond – but Sookie is strangely territorial where the Stackhouse home is concerned. She is, in fact, strange about many things, and his experience with humans in the last century – at least the ones that aren't bloodbags or fucktoys – has been spotty at best. Eric frowns down at his crossed fingers before raising his eyes. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Do you know how high the water bill's gonna get?" she says. She pushes up from the desk, her sneakered feet pacing back and forth on the carpet. "And the electric? I can't afford a dang hot tub!"

Aaah, so that's the problem. He spreads his hands, smiles at her across the desk. "I can."

It is exactly the wrong thing to say. "What, so I'm your kept woman now? You goin' to start slathering me in jewels and… and fur coats, too?"

"Fur coats would hardly be appropriate in this weather," he says. Though he can think of a few wolves that might do nicely for a leather jacket.

"What's next, Eric? Am I gonna come home one night and find those stainless steel appliances in my kitchen? Or maybe you'll just rip out my bathroom and put a spa in there!" 

Eric has had centuries of practice in maintaining his expression, but a glint must show in his eye at the thought of such renovations because Sookie's own eyes go wide and she points a finger at him. 

"Don’t you even think about it!" she says. "I like my bathroom just the way it is, thank you very much!"

He rises smoothly, crosses to lean against the old wood. The movement puts him closer to her height, and he diminishes the distance between them by bending slightly to meet her eyes. "I thought you'd like the hot tub," he says.

"Well," Sookie says stubbornly, "I don't. You can't just—"

He takes her hand before she has time to raise a protest. "You said it yourself. You're tired and sore when you get home from work. I thought it would be nice if you had somewhere to ease your aching muscles after a long night. I'm told that hot tubs are very therapeutic." 

It's… not exactly a lie. He _did_ consider the restorative benefits of soaking in hot water on humans before he made arrangements to have the hot tub installed. But mostly he'd thought about Sookie, naked and pale and perfect in the water, steam rising from her skin. He'd thought about the way the mists would curl the ends of her hair; about licking the water from the rounds of her flawless breasts. He'd thought about slipping inside her while the jets pounded against them, and her head thrown back to reveal the long line of her throat.

"Eric…"

He rubs a thumb along the curve of her wrist, feels the blood strumming beneath her veins. Calling to him. "But I admit I was hoping you wouldn't use it tonight. I was hoping we could try it out the first time together."

The tension in her eases with each sweep of his thumb, and finally her shoulders slump. "You can't keep doin' this," she says, and when her eyes meet his the anger is gone and only the confusing mix of affection and frustration is left. "You know that, right?"

"Doing what?" he asks. "Taking care of you? Buying you presents? Loving you?"

"Buyin' me things isn't _loving_ me, Eric," she says. "Making sure I'm safe, holdin' me in your arms no matter who's around, being _honest_ with me and not sneakin' around behind my back putting things in my house. _That's_ loving me."

"I see," he says. 

He's not sure that he does, and she must sense it because she leans up against him and turns her face to his. "It's not that I don't appreciate the thought," she says, "but this is important to me. So next time, please… ask first?"

"You have my word," he says. Her lips are soft against his, and he lets her take the lead, her fingernails scraping at his nape as she bends him to her will. The flame that is never present anymore with anyone but her sparks and flares, and he would have his hand on her to stroke her there with him were it not for one tiny, pressing matter. He pulls away to meet her eyes. "You don't want me to have the hot tub removed, do you?"

Sookie sighs against his lips. "Well it's there already, so—"

"Good," he says. "Your next late shift is Thursday. I can meet you on the deck." When she takes a breath to protest, he continues, "I'll bring champagne."

Sookie shakes her head. "I'm not sure if the word I want to use to describe you is 'incorrigible', but—"

"Incorrigible works," Eric says. He smiles down at her. "Is that a yes?"

"It's a date."

She squeals when he uses his speed to divest her of those tiny shorts, then squeals for another reason entirely when his fingers find her. And though most of his concentration is firmly centered on the woman in his arms, one small part of him is wondering exactly how he's going to explain the new four-poster in her bedroom.


End file.
